.One of the best indicators of future success in any job is a candidate's track record. Whatever we may believe about competencies and qualifications there is always something reassuring about a CV that contains some years of experience at a first rate employer.
Graduates are becoming increasingly attuned to the strength of a great employer brand, seeking out the star employers in the formative years of their careers. Blue chip companies can expect to be prominent in any ranking of graduate preferences.
But they do not have the field to themselves. Public sector employers are consistently highly rated. Then there are those employers that are able to punch above their weight.
Why do some employers stand out from the rest?
How do they achieve an almost magical appeal for potential recruits? What is it that makes one employment proposition far more enticing than another? How does any company achieve that virtuous circle where success attracts great people and great people create more success?
There are no pat answers to these questions. If there were it would be impossible to distinguish the cream of employers from the rest. But the more that companies strive to resolve these issues the closer they are likely to come to employment Nirvana.
The most striking feature of employer excellence is that so many companies are content to stand in the shadow of those that have learned to manage and leverage their hard won reputations.
A reputation for employment excellence has to be maintained
Those who do so have mastered a formula for long term durability that puts employees and customers ahead of short term improvements to the bottom line.
Creating a centre of excellence is possible where managements trust their employees, set the highest standards, commit themselves to first class employee development, seek out opinions and ideas from across the workplace and treasure their employees as they do their customers. Establish this kind of atmosphere and you too can be an employer of choice.
If you would like to ensure that your job brief stands out from the crowd, the Patrick Clarke consultancy team specialising in your industry sector, welcomes the opportunity to help you.
For more about great employers, read Hidden Value, How Great Companies Achieve Extraordinary Results with Ordinary People, by Charles A O'Reilly and Jeffrey Pfeffer, published by Harvard Business School Press.